The Democratic senator. Bob Casey and Republican Dave McCormick are officially set to face each other The high-stakes Senate battle in Pennsylvania this fall after winning their uncontested primaries on Tuesday, NBC News projects.
Casey, a three-term incumbent, and McCormick, who rallied Pennsylvania’s Republican establishment behind his candidacy after announcing his candidacy last year, will now sprint toward the November election in one of the most bitterly contested Senate races disputed and the most expensive in the country. This race is one of a handful of candidates likely to tip the balance of power in the upper house of Congress.
For McCormick, a hedge fund executive and former Treasury Department official under President George W. Bush, his 2024 bid follows his failed 2022 bid against celebrity physician Mehmet Oz, who narrowly beat him during a Republican primary with the former President Donald TrumpIt’s support. Oz then lost to Democrat John Fetterman in the general election.
This time around, McCormick has the support of Trump, as well as Republican leaders across Pennsylvania.
“It’s a great day in Pennsylvania and we hope people come out to vote,” Trump said outside his headquarters. criminal trial for money in New York on Tuesday. “It’s important to vote to let them know that we’re coming on November 5th. We are coming in a big way. Today it’s preliminary, but it’s still very important and maybe they will also think about the very good person who is running for Senate in Pennsylvania, Dave McCormick.
But even with a unified GOP behind him, McCormick faces an uphill battle. Republicans lost race after race in the Keystone State after Trump’s shocking victory in 2016. And Casey, the son of the state’s former governor, often votes before the president. Joe Biden in the state.
“Oh, the guy from Connecticut?” Fetterman spoke to NBC News about McCormick, for whom Democrats have lambasted maintain a residence in Connecticut. “He loves Connecticut and he loves working and investing in Chinese companies. And I don’t think it’s a winner in Pennsylvania, but I guess we’ll find out. Bob Casey is going to smoke it.
Protest votes for presidential primaries
The top of the ticket in Pennsylvania on Tuesday lacked drama, as not only were Casey and McCormick running unopposed, but the presidential primary It also amounted to a formality, with Trump and Biden having already clinched their party’s nominations. NBC News predicted that both men would win their party’s primaries in Pennsylvania.
But there was intrigue beneath the surface, as voters on both sides were given the opportunity to submit protest votes Tuesday. There was an organized effort to get Democratic voters to write “no commitment” on their presidential primary ballots to express opposition to Biden’s handling of the war between Israel and Hamas. And Nikki Haley, who withdrew from the race in early March, was still on the Republican ballot.
Initial vote totals seemed to indicate that Trump faced a greater…
